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My Racing History & 2008 Blogg by CuttingEdgeHi all I felt I should write a Blogg as I created this section , First I will apologise for my BAD spelling and Grammer that I have no doubt will creep into this Blogg sorry i am only a Carpenter after all anyway here we go ........ :D
My Racing History well where shall I start it all started on a building site in Braintree Essex eight years ago when me and my mate bought a couple of Shummacher SST Rally Cars to have some fun with at lunchtimes , well thats what we thought we had bought it turned out my mate had a Rally version longer shocks and different shock towers I seem to recall where as mine was a Shummacher SST Touring car :cry: It was not much good on the Building site thats for sure ( Thanks A1 Models ) & I realy mean Thanks to Dave who sold me the Touring car as if he had not I would not have tried to find a Touring Car club to race what i had bought ......
First I Went to Colchester to see them racing there which did not look like to much fun racing round the carpark outside the plumbers merchants on a Sunday morning missing the pot holes and stones :shock: & they seemed to be more interested in the Nitro cars over the Electric , Which still seems the same today even though the Electric has more of a following at Colchester Now mainly due to there Great smooth outdoor track which is a Joy to drive at I love going to Colchester now i know a few of the Lads and the People who run the track do a great job Mr B and Timbo and all the others & there are a few great caracters who they have there Vince springs to mind as one who must dream about gear ratios every night .........
Sorry I am rambling ...........
The next Sunday I took the Family upto the Indoor Cricket pitch in Ipswich where i had been told they raced touring cars on carpet ... Carpet I thought someone was winding me up I thought but hey when I got there they was racing Touring Cars on Carpet WOW I thought as a Friendly Mad came over to talk to me as I stood there watching the cars going round ,,,, This man turned out to be BARRY who was probably the most friendly strainger I had ever met , Within minutes i knew all i needed to know and armed with a list i was off to see if the stuff I had bought was what I needed to race . When I got home I found looking though the stuff i had bought it seemed the only thing missing was another set of crystals and some carpet tyres .............
To Be Contiued
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I returned two weeks later armed with my Car ( no spares ) No body told me i could break it :lol: a set of pre mounted T27 tyres which i had been told were good on carpet & at £10 a set i felt this was ok and worth a try, There was no way I was going to buy an expensive set of carpet dragons until I was sure I was going to continue with this hobby , I also has 2 stick packs of I think they were 1500 cells a charger which had the most anoying beep in the world and an old car battery , Yep i think that was about it along with a small selection of tools that came with the car , I was ready for the off ..................
I spoke to Barry who told me how it all worked helped put up the rostrum and got my car ready to go , I forgot i needed a table but I was lucky a little guy with a bald head by the name of Merlo said I could pit with them on a pool table which had a sheet of ply on top of it , Great i thought an Expert who was running a slightly newer version of my car , I can remember clearly the conversation I had with Barry on my first racing day I had said I was sure I would come last & Barry assured me I would not :shock: & he was right maybe he could see I had a little bit of talent from my practice session when he was telling me how to drive YES thats right in a round about way I was tought by Barry............
Not only did I not come last but I was not even in the lowest final If my memory serves me correctly ..................
To this day I can still remember who came last thats probably due to the vivid memory of him pinning his crying son to the side netting and shouting at him like a mad man :shock: I was shocked but nobody else seemed to be I later found out it was normal I don't need to name names you all now who I am refuring to :D
Oh yes & the tyres would last 3 meetings my cheap T27 tryes and my first motor which was a sealed Shummacher motor 27turn lasted about 5 meetings untill if ound the power of what most people were using the Trinity Green Machine 3 WOW :lol: what a difference it made in speed it was like a rocket ship , In those days i had a comm stick and that was it although it didn't matter much as I had no luck with the Green Machine 3 motors mine kept getting staples in and Blowing up :shock:
From there i moved onto the Orion Chrome not due to being more powerful as they were not but due to the fact they only had small vent holes in them i never had one blow up on me But i never had good results when i run my Orion motor .......................
My Best memory or racing indoors at the Cricket Ground was once just once I beat Barry It was due to the fact i was consistant I was not as FAST as Barry but i drove well and I can remember Barry saying how well I had done and this ment a lot to me and still does .. To this day If I beat Barry I go home happy even if a lot of other people beat me , he tought me a lot in a short time the most important lesson he tought me was to HAVE FUN and to this day I still try to have fun I gets harder as you get better but I still have FUN..............
Oh and yes I can't forget to mention my racing buddy ill call him I am sure he would not mind being called that ( well he won't know he is in Scotland now Playimg Golf ) The old Yokomo driver who I was in competion with In the old days like I am now with Ian the Grey Fox
GILES P bless him he also tought me a lot in his memory I still use his Pit space in our Hut ....
To Be Contiued
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For the last few months of racing at the old Cricket Stadium I can remember racing on the Bumpy car park trying to miss the pot holes this is when i Upgraded my car from the Shummacher SST to the Team Losi xxx-s I was so happy when i got my Losi it was so much faster than the old Shummacher I had to start with & Thank God for Ebay as I try to always Buy my cars second hand I was lucky with my xxx-s it had not been out long but I found one going cheap on Ebay it was mine all I had to do to it was buy a new shell I got the same shell as the car would have come with origanaly as I liked the look of it I think it was called a show stopper or somthing it was not a real car but a Trinity shell could have been called a reference maybe ............ I painted it Red with 2 white stripes down the middle it was fantastic 1 belt ans as fast as hell BUT it kept beaking it was not strong enough for me i felt and I soon Ebayed it I think and upgraded again to another car , again this was second hand but hardly used .............
By this time we were racing at our current track on Bourn Hill Ipswich just with hoses layed out until the track plan had been decided Oh yes my new car was an X-RAy T1 I think it was called a lovely looking car which is why i bought it , When it was going well it was great but as soon as it took a knock the setup when out the window and to me it became undrivable ........
So you Guest it it had to go this time it did not go on Ebay but Jimbo bought it off me ( & then beat me with it on a regular basis )
I am Skipping though this now to try and get it all in befor the weekend when the STCC 2008 starts which was the main reason for this Blogg .......................
I Had made the move to Yokomo now as shaft drive was ment to be better and Andy East had just won the British Touring Car Championship with Yokomo ..... A Big lesson was to be learnt here you can have the car BUT you need the Skill to drive it ................
So I had the Car would it work for me ????????????
To Be Continued
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The answer was NO it was nice to drive BUT you had to be Andy East to get it to go round Quick well as quick as Andy went :D I stuck with the Yokomo in 3 different forms for a couple of seasons then made the move to Tamiya .
I moved over to Tamiya just for the shere fact I liked the look of the car and Graham Amey had got one which he let me drive it was sweet easy to drive fast but you were always in control whatever you did to the setup you could not make it undrivable like some cars I had run in the past ....... I drove my Tamiya for 3 years I think it must have been and loved every race I drove it ....
When i did the STCC running my Tamiya I did for a while have a part sponcership with Maxamps who sold me there batterys cheap gave me a t-shirt and put photos of my car on there website , they was only a small company then , Now they are one of the biggest US battery sellers and Sponcer top names in the states below is a picture of my Maxamps car I did the car in White , Yellow & Silver ......
And Below is one of my Silver Maxamps car coming over the jump at Southend :D
I have moved on this season to the New TEAM MAGIC E4 touring car WHY you might ask when I loved the Tamiya so so much & the short answer is simple you could not fit a lipo in the Tamiya and the new Tamiya the 416 was just not different enough a car to upgrade to & there was just something about the E4 that just shouted at me to get one ..........
Since running the E4 for what feels like a long time but is only a few months I have beaten my personal best on 2 different track layouts at Coastal , I have Won the A final twice , & I am currently leading the Numb Nuts Pro Stock class after the first 4 rounds with 2 rounds to go .
And thats at the wrong time of year to be breaking records etc as when the grip levels come up in the summer I feel I will only go faster , Well I hope I will :D
Also It has to be mentioned aswell that there is normaly about 2 seconds between the GreyFox and myself either way over 5 minutes ..... In the last outing in the dry when I won the A final I beat the GreyFox by closer to a lap which is a lot more that the usual 2 seconds :lol:
We can't count the last meeting held in the WET as I was not running the E4 when the GreyFox won and me coming in in second place (having fryed 2 motors)
So anyway to sum up below is a list of the Touring cars I have run this does not include Various minis and F1 cars along the way
Shummacher SST (new bought in a starter kit with charger trani etc)
Losi xxx-s bought off Ebay
Xray T1 I think second hand
Yokomo SD (silver) Bought new
Yokomo Andy East SD ( conversion kit from the above car )
Yokomo CGM (was the Wet car ) Bought off Ebay
Tamiya 415ms Second hand
Tamiya 415msx (conversion Kit applyed to above car )
Tamiya MRE (Bought by the Wife for my Birthday last year) which is why i can't sell this one
Team Magic E4 (Bought New from Demon Power Products ) Now the Spare Car
Team Magic E4 this is my current Race Car Bought Second Hand from Sweden I think it was
There was another Shummacher mission in there when my R/C stuff was stolen about 4 years ago but I did not include it in the list as I only ran it once then my Stuff was returned by the Police and I sold the Shummacher on .......
When you list the cars like this it looks like a lot and it is but you do need to remember that I always sell my cars on to regain some money to help fund the next one and most were bought second hand , In this Sport you have to realize these cars are only valuable until you have built them once you have built them they are as good as worthless unless you can find the right person that wants It ..................
Then onward to the STCC 2008
To Be Contiued
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Well the first round has come and gone Thank God , It was a race meeting I was not looking forward to thats for sure ............
Southend my most hated track i have ever driven at I have only ever managed a B final place here well this time it was goinbg to be an A final place I secured after Qualifying now you might think I would or should be happy with this BUT all the way home I was thinking the day over in my head and I was filled with mixed emotions I could not Explain to myself or to you all on here FUNNY I know but true
I had gone to Southend hoping for a B Final place so getting A final 6th I should be over the moon & at that point I was BUT .......
I only finished 3 out of my 6 runs of the day due to bad driving by others I know we all blame others but it was I was taken out so hard in one round my servo case was broken so both lugs sheered off in one go NOW that takes some doing ...... Come the Finals Due to the wet Qualifying people behind me felt they should of been infront and yes maybe they should but this did not give them the GOD GIVEN wright to drive straight though me as they did ,,, If they was as good as they thought they were they should have been quite capable of driving round me but because I am quite good at Blocking ( tought to me by the greyfox ) they got frustrated again because they should have been in front of me they basicaly SMASHED me out the way ,,, Now this would not have hapened when Barry had a say in Running the STCC ..............
And while I am Ranting the cheating was not seen by race control I was 6th in A the Boy behind me in 7th in each final was not in his starting Box but in front of in every final so giving him an advantage ..............
The Swaring on the rostrum again would not have been tolorated in previous years ..........
I was not allowd to stand in the same place on the rostrum each time and when i asked people to let me in ( room for a little one i joked ) I was ignored and had to stand in a totaly different place and there for could not get it right at all every corner was different like a different track...
In the last final I thought ill get the to the front of the cue at the back of the rostrum ready to take my place BUT as I stood there one hand on the hand rail the boy who had been jumping the start bent under my arm and stood on the steps in front of me ,,,, Then stood on the rostum wright where I wanted to be ..... as I stood to his left the Bloke who stood to my right came up and asken me to move I was in his place ( again he was PISSED because he should have been higher up the grid ) when I did not move just looked at him with a mad look on my face he procided to basicaly lean on me so I could not use my arms correctly ( and he was supposed to be a seasoned good driver he lost all my respect there and then )
In that last final My car was boken again by others so I pulled out
So to sum up I was happy with 6th in A quali & 10th in A Final place But I hated the track and the other drivers who looked down on me
Come On Eastbourne I want a good meeting there & on this meet I will be happy running round in the B final as I want to have fun not get wound up by people who think they are gods gift ............
Its all about racing anf having FUN never forget this its the most important thing about this hobbie :D
To Be Contiued
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And then on to what I thought was a Stock Club Meet at Coastal , it went well with the weather changing every 10 minutes wind , rain , snow , sun it was to be a frantic Qualifying session due to low numbers and the weather Paul decided to run the Quali as 2 Fifteen minute sessions with your best 3 concecutive laps to count at the end of Quali 1 i was Knocked on top until the last 2 minutes when i was knocked off .... :( so I ended up Second ,,, Never mind 1 more 15 minute Quali to come later .....
Second Quali came and everyone went Quicker knocking me into the B Final :shock: How could I fall so quick so low ,,, track conditions was to blame It was getting quicker and quicker I put a time in which got me back in the A final 5th & after this I ran into the Pits to change to the DRY car and pray with 4 minutes left I went Back out anf YES posted the fasted time in Quali with 30 seconds to go I was on POLE ( Where i was last time we had wet weather )
So Starting from POLE i had a good advantage and I made the most of it leading the first A Final from Start to 1 meter from the finish line :shock: coming up to win the first A final with 1 meter to go I hit a Back marker who had spun I was 1 Meter from the line , the man in second place came past and then I was marshalled and finished second I was Gutted as I am sure you can understand ......
In the 2dd A final i finished 4th due to 2 driving errors on my part
In the 3rd which I had to win to Win overall i hit a car in the third corner trying to defend my positon which put me back to 7th with a handeling problem which is where I stayed so to sum up I finished 4th overall which has now put me 2points behind the leader of the winter open class championship
Never mind It was a good day and the first test of the Mardave went well , well 3 corners befor the wheel came off it was hadeling well
My son Jacks Mardave shell is coming along well ( will poat Pics as soon as its sorted ....
Bring on the Tri Club round 5 as I am winning the Open class at this time with 2 rounds to go :D
And then the 2nd round of the STCC at Eastbourne on the 27th its going to be a busey month , as tomorow i am taking Jack down to Felixstow to buy his Mardave Banger Car as well as the BT Vision being delivered and Mario Cart being released on WII it is going to be a Fun Packed weekend ....... :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Well the Tri Club meet Numb Nuts has come and gone with what turned out to be a Bad result . Still had some good practice time with the 10.5 Brushless installed , This the 5th round was held at Snetterton today and like I said to start with it did not go acording to plan , The track was Wet / Damp all day upuntill the Final in the afternoon so running the wet car for the first 3 rounds of Quali I was all over the back of the other drivers but just could not get past every time I cought up and tryed to overtake I put the power down and Spun out :cry: , I could not get it right then in the 4th round of Quali I switched over to the Dry car & WOW it was fast to fast and with all that extra grip I had to much grip with the intermediate tyres on and I ripped them off the rims and shredded the inside edge of 2 of them with all the grip I had I did a fair amount of crashing :cry:
To be continued after dinner
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So onto the final with SSB's bolted on I started in 5th on the Grid By 3/4 of the way round the first lap i was in First place until the back end came round and I spun I was down to second :cry: by the end of lap 3 I was in last place with a poor handling car but i carried on keeping up with everyone bar Matt who was well ahead and pulling out a big lead :cry: I was hoping to get second place today but it was not to be ending up in 5th ...........
On inspection of my car when I got home and started the clean down check over routine to see if I needed to order any spare parts I Noticed that due to all my Crashing earlier in the day I had some how got posative camber on the rear end which would explain why it was so twitchy on power out of the slower power power power out of the corners :cry: well at least I found the problem I have also changed a few things ready for Eastbourne next weekend .... Due to the speed the meeting was run today and the changing track conditions I had no real time to find or know I had a problem with my car ,,,, Anyway all sorted now and no real damage from my major crashes today :D
So on to Eastbourne
Check list
Tent yes
Sleeping Bag yes
Cooker yes
Wine yes
Beer yes
Sat Nav yes
Just need Cool Bag , Cool Box , More Beer , More Wine
Oh and Jim to get the BBQ sorted
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Well Eastbourn has been and Gone and well its my worst racing result EVER , I have never been so low down befor
I Finished 9th in E in the pro stock class thats just 1 place off of being LAST :cry:
The weekend was great Saturday Practice went well felt pleased with my car and its handeling and it was even better on the Sunday morning for the Qualifying I just could not get it right one lap I would get the first 3 corners spot on then mess up the next 4 , then just the opposite on the next lap getting the first 3 or 4 corners wrong and getting the remainder right and so on ,,, If I had taken my best Lap time and had been able to match it or round abouts for the full 5 minutes i would have been in the C final and with the competion so close in Pro Stock this would have been a Good Result BUT I could not :cry:
Any way the BBQ was good fun and watching the Minis of Jimbo and George racing round and 10.30 at night was agood laugh :D
Aparently I was holding up the fence by 11 pm ( Slightly Merry sall we say )
The highlight of my weenend was watching Ben WIN the Stock A Final in style well done Ben
Onto next weekend half way though the stock class winter season at Coastal and I am one point behind the Grey Fox & I hope to put this right next weekend although on Bens current form he may be in with a shot of the win also
Then the following weekend its the last round of the Numb Nuts Winter series where again I am Lying second :D
Then onto the BIG ONE BROOKLANDS :D Cant wait it looks good a bit large for my stock class entry but still one I am looking forward to racing at
Results to follow
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Just a Quick Blog Entry this week .......
Well Sunday was a total disaster for no fault of my own I was Totaly sober and had total concentration on But my Car was Pants ..... there is no other word for it there was no concistancy with it from one heat to the next nor one final to the next either , I was fighting the car on every bend still getting good lap times but I could see I could have been so much better, Faster , and consistant though out the day If i had been driving my old Tamiya :shock: ,
The E4 is a dream to drive the Turn in is Fantastic BUT as I have shimmed it up to fit the LARGE Liop in I think it is affecting the handeling some what , others have shimmed theres the same and have NO problems but for some reason I do :cry:
So when I got home I totaly stripped the car removed all the shimms and rebuilt it :lol: Now its fine again sitting level and looking like a race winner with the old cells installed and resetup its handeling great again SO MY QUESTION TO MY SELF IS do i buy new old style cells and run the E4 or do i give up on the Team Magic and find a different car which will take the Trackpower 4900 Pack without modification
The Problem here lies with the Cells I know the Trackpower 4900 has an advantage over old stlye cells ( tested by an expert )
But
I own 2 Team Magic cars and all the spares I could Need for the upcomming summer season if I change to a different car I will need to get a few Spares , so I need to weigh up the cost and ( my FUN ) for this season Do I want to come home happy each Sunday having had a good FUN & Wining day out or will I be happy coming home every Sunday having had a frustrating day ( possably ) with the KIt I have which If I buy new cells for I know deep down I will not have that POWER advantage ?????????????????
The Answer is simple and the secret is out the Bag so to speak
The E4 is up for sale well one of them the other will be for sale soon after the first one has gone and the new car is down the post office ready for me to collect , The next question is what is it well I can say this I will be NO suprise what I have gone for to replace the E4 , I am sad the E4 has not worked out as my last car the Tamiya saw me though the last 4 years in one form or another & the E4 has only been on my pit table for 6 months which in that time it has broken my personal best track record on every layout we have run at Coastal & given my 3 FTQ's & the Win in 2 A finals and placed me 6th in the A final of the opening round of the STCC 2008 so it has done well so to speak :D
To be continued .............
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New Ride for 2008 Ready to GoWell my New car is here ready to go Sunday in the Tri-Club Pro Stock class which I am in second place at the moment with one round to go and this is on my home track so all to play for , although it could be hard as it will be the first outing of my new car . Having said that I have got a lot of confidence in my new Ride it is the most free car I have ever seen with little to no slop in the steering ( This was a problem on my old Tamiya ) only slight problem is I will have to run Kit setup as I don't have the nessasary components to change the setup at this time :cry: .
And I have no shock oil to rebuild the shocks either I will have to run it with what ever is in them which again I presume is Kit Standard ( I thought I had shock oil in the Garage but it all turns out to be light weight BUGGY oil :cry: ) & I am to busy to get to a model shop today .....
The New Ride was Built by Nick Adams @ Demon so it should be good although I have had to shimm out the play in the front Spool to take out the only real slop in the car :D
I have had to adapt an old body shell to fit so it don't look as good as some of my other cars from the outside I have orded a new shell but it has not arrived yet , hoping it will arrive in the post today then I will look cool going round tomorow for sure . But when the shell comes off she looks well nice shall we say as the advert for this car says "The Most Pimped Out Car In The Pits" & I think they are right :lol: you can't realy get any more shiny bits on this car although I am sure if the Captain had one he could find somthing else to turn shiny :lol:
Oh well off to :-
Clean Patio
Take Wife Shopping
Clean Filter out on Pond
Play with Jack
Visit my Mum & Dad who live 25miles away ( not far but with my busy day it seems a long way )
Get home in time to get to the post office if my shell comes
check the car over once again
have BBQ
Watch Britains Got Talent
Bed then its race day cant wait :D :D
To Be contiued........
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Well it was the Last round of the Tri Club NUMB NUTS Winter series & I had home track advantage as well as full confidence in my new car , I thought I had a chance of winning the series when Matt Row did not turn up to race BUT when I spoke to the organiser Jon he said he had calculated that I could not win & with Matt not competing all Big Dave had to do was finish higher than 4th place to Win the title so I thought I had a 3rd place in the Bag which I would have been very happy with .......
So onto the Racing as It was a new car & I felt I could not win I was quite relaxed about it all and kept telling myself to have FUN which I did , I only had a 13.5 motor avalable as the sensor wire was broken in my 10.5 so I had a power disadvantage :smt009 But the new car was so Nice and Easy to drive I did not seem to matter , I could not hold on to Leon in the first Quali But he was not that far ahead and the Man I had to beat was Big Dave :smt006 Not Leon !!!!!
After all 4 rounds of Quali I was in second place with Leon on Pole and Dave right behind me I was feeling confident and very happy with my new car , i knew it was the right thing to do ( Change car ) even if I have been given quite a bit of Stick for doing it , Well at the end of the Day I made an error with my last make of car & I have held my hands up to that Error FUNNY though another driver of the same make as my old car has Now Bought a Cyclone :smt002
Oh I forgot to mention If I had been running in the Stock class I would have been easly on POLE beating the Stock Pole sitter by some 6 seconds I belive :smt003
Onto the final and its a simple story here realy off we went and Leon made an error in the second corner letting me though up the inside and there I was to stay with what can only be discribed as the drive of my life with Dave finishing Second , one of my fellow racers said afterwards that it had been like watching Ben Raymond going round for the last 5 mins To which i told him to "shut up and don't be so stupid " and he replyed you looked that good don't change a damm thing on that car it looked fantastic ........
Oh Yes Jon had done his maths wrong with my Win today it made me overall CHAMPION
After the meeting a few people tryed my new car and yes they liked it I know one of them has since bought a Cyclone and another is thinking about it :smt003
So onto Brooklands next Sunday on a high from this weekend
To Be Contiued..............
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So it was here the Brooklands weekend with the new car working well at Coastal on its first outing I was very confedent going to Brooklands , With everything packed and ready I picked Ian up at 5.15 and set off with Jim following close behind , there was to be some early morning overtaking as we did all the Colchester boys one by one on the M25 with Ian waving to them one by one from the passenger window of my 1.3 Deisel Van ( Vince had got the wrong GEAR RATIO on his 206 for sure ) :smt003 :smt003 .....
We arrived at Brooklands to find one of the BEST tracks we had ever seen WOW was all that could realy been said the track was long and fast with plenty of overtaking places I was looking forword to getting the Cyclone on the track :smt002 & one of the best things was the Cafe which was only a 30sec walk from the pits with waiter service :smt003
On to the important stuff Qualifying ill keep it short After the first 2 rounds of Quali I was in 8th Place in the A final the Top Coastal Stock Driver which I was very happy about , Then onto round 3 I needed a good one here But iut all went wrong on the opening lap I was beached on the grass and lost half a lap it was all over so trying very hard to make up the time I had lost oin the grass my driving went to bits see below a few good pics from Cam of my Car
So It was not to be and with everyone going faster I was knocked out the A and into pole in the B , I was 1.45 seconds off of the 10th place driver in the A final which was a gutter as i had all to loose in the finals and nothing to gain ( Except racing experiance of this great track ) But I was still the highest placed Coastal Stock driver which with Ben having won the stock class at Eastbourne and Mark Woods being a Multiple Club Champian I was still very pleased with my performance .....
B final leg 1 I was in the lead holding Alex at a comfortabe pace when a blip of interference took my car onto the grass only briefly but enough to let Alex though , Never mind I thought I have the speed ill take him on the straight which should have been easy BUT when I made my move about 3 laps later I had so much speed 3/4 of the way down the sraight that when I was going for it I was commited to my line and unfortunatly Alex blocked me at the very last second It was to late I could not stop and hit him sending me off onto the grass and down to the back of the pack :smt013
B final leg 2 was a similar senario I was away until i made a slight error and let Alex though , this time I tought i would have him on the infield agian I wa comited at speed when Alex Blocked me and I was off again I was catching him back up again with in 4 or 5 laps then my Steering came a part on my car & I was out .............
B final leg 3 Again I was away pulling out a good lead until I made a driving error my fault I was off and again at the back of the pack , then came my best overtaking move of the day over my old racing mate the GreyFox down the main straight Flat out I came past him like he was standing still Fantastic at 3/4 of the way down the straight my car had like a turbo cut in could have been somthing to do with my 3.8 gear ratio I was running on my Novak 13.5 motor ....
So to sum it all up a good day out close racing Finished up 7th in B which should have been 1st but hey ho , a loose screw and a couple of errors on my part was to blame ,, Back to it and some proper motor testing to be done this weekend at Coastal with 3 different motors to try to find the best for West London in 2 weeks time .................
To Be Contiued ......
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Well after a good days testing at Snetterton I am looking forward to West London as its one of my most liked tracks we go to :smt003
First News is my E4 is SOLD and I can move on and forget the past and truly belive I am just driving a Purple Tamiya as to be honest thats what its like to me even though when 2 other Tamyia Drivers have had a go with thew Cyclone they have said it Under steers .............
Took delivery today of my Wet car so currently rebuilding it ready for the weekend even though it says it will be good weather I want to be prepaired :smt002
Well when I opened the box of this Ebay purchase I was mortified as to what I had got :smt013
It was advertised as Moore Speed Cyclone used 6 times indoors , Great I thought with a BUY ME NOW price of £110 it was to good to be true but I bought it ..................
My First impression was soon to become slightly cloudy in my mind for the following reasons
Yes it had the following parts missing Shot to bits
Ali shock spring retainers
Ali Heatsink mount thing which holds the layshaft in place
The Rear diff had been replaced with a Purple 3Racing one
Carbon Spur Gear Holder Missing
Wheel nuts been replaced
The steering servo saver is shot to bits and binding
Bearings Shot to bits
Rear Diff had been built with the Black Thrust bearing grease :smt017
Rear diff plates Shot
Rear diff screw was silver
Springs of an unknown make
Shocks internals of an unknown make
And various other problems along with a chassie that had done a full season on Tarmac YES he had said 6 meetings on Carpet but this is what he had done but the former owner had done the damage
On the upside there was a Full Titamiun Screw set & Ceramic diff balls &
a good set of tyres on it along with a servo which I could use to fix Jacks Buggy
All in all after 3 hours of work and probably £25 worth of spares fitted it is Fantastic and a race winner in its self Just got to instal the electrics tomorow and test it ready for Sunday
OH and there was a BIG Bonus as well my old Tamiya Rain under over cover fits like a glove so ill fit that as well incase of realy bad weather ..............
Ill report back after the West London round of the STCC
To Be Contiued .................
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Well with Hi expectations it was off to West London Raceway one of my most loved tracks & with the weather of late being WET WET WET I was glad that Sunday morning came with a Dry line showing on the road outside mt house , Great I thought a good day was to be had here . Ian picked me up at 5.35 and we was off to West London when we got there the track was not open for practice yet so we were on time GREAT I thought and I was second out there doing some good laps after 5 mins of practice and a Bacon Roll I was ready for the serious stuff to come ...........
Along came round 1 of Quali and I was in heat 2 due to the fact I had ran in the pro stock class in round 2 I was to be running lower down than I should have been , But this was fine after 2 laps I was in the lead running very quick great i thought this is what I need a banker in the Bag so to speak , running very well on lap 14 the car STOPPED don't know why as we could find nothing wrong when i got the car back in the pits , Damm I thought as its well known at West London that your first Run is the fastest ....................
On the second Run I had to take it easy not having a good banker in I needed to just get a time in and keep off the kerbs which I di but being conservative on my run it was slow a slow 16 lap which was C final ......
There was nothing for it but to go for it in Quali 3 I did drove like DEMON and did a 16 lap in 302 DAMM just missed out on a slow 17 lap time this was going to be my best of the day putting me in 5th in the B which when you see the standard of drivers wasnt that bad and my old friend the Grey Fox was 2.4 seconds behind me sitting 7th in B I was Happy in a strainge sort of was .....................
So to make it short as the beer needs to Flow to celebrate my Victory in short
B final Leg 1 finished 2nd
B Final Leg 2 finished 2nd
B Final Leg 3 finished 1st
Although I felt I had Won the first Leg also But the computer said NO
Overall i was 1st Place in the B Final which Is not that Bad and and I am very happy with this result
Although Young Ben should have beaten me I have to say and probably deserved to But he hit the curbs & did NOT Just keep it smooth Ben you got the Talent just keep your COOOOOOOLLLLLLLL ...............
& one last mention Thanks Leigh for collecting my car from scroutenering ( cant spell it for toffee ) Sorry the motor Burnt your arm , It was HOT , But it severs you right for cheering Ben on But Not Me LOL
Bring on the Enduro next weekend the Coastal 240
To Be Contiued..............
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Well its nearly here the Coastal 240 tomorrow and I can't wait , Having been up the track earlier today for a Quick Test of my New car it was very very good it has to be said 
The racing tomorrow is going to be close and anything can happen and probably will , With close attention to the PIT LANE ENTRY this afternoon I feel a lot of time will be GAINED or LOST if people don't get the pit lane entry right as if you stuff it up and have to wait for a marshal you could loose Half a lap or more stuffed in the Hose 
Its still uncertain if I will have my own team or my team be split up and placed in other teams , There is some thing inside of me thats saying we can win this given we have one more driver in my team BUT the other part of me is saying If I was put into maybe the GreyFox's Team I am sure to win  Not that its all about winning its about having FUN & maybe we will but I think it could be more stressful than FUN & be more fun for the people watching ...............
I feel if its run as is with the teams as is on the Coastal website that the Colchester Boys have it on paper but anything can happen and probably will , A car broken on the track waiting for a marshall and no other team member ready to start could cost a team I reckon 4 maybe even 5 laps round Coastal ...............
If my team is split and I am put into the GreyFox's Team I truly belive we have won it if the GreyFox keeps his head and does not try to race everything on the track ( What am I saying Imposable he won't be able to help himself if there is a Colchester Mod driver behind him on the straight he won't let them past )
If my team stays as is and gets another driver added I reckon with Grahams planning we could win it if Jim's Lipo can recharge between runs which for what its worth I don't think he will be able to 
Anyway I am rambling off to sink a couple to get the taste of Gloss Paint out my mouth 
I am Just hpoing the GreyFox is having a couple of  Tonight
To Be Contiued ................
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Yes you read it right the first line of the above entry NEW CAR  its not as smooth as the Hot Bodies Cyclone as it has the Novak GTB in it which is not as smooth as the Nosram which is in the HotBodies Cyclone But its still very good and will hopfuly be the only car I drive tomorrow to get it set up just right ...............
I took so much stick for changing from Magic to Hot Bodies I thought well if I get a NEW car so soon I wont get so much stick as I am still getting stick from the last change 
To Be Continued ................
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Well the Coastal 240 turned out to be my most costly race meet ever ££££££££££
Ill start by saying what a great day well organised and a realy friendly crowd of drivers had entered , My team the Cutting Edge Crew was a great team and probably the most organised of all with 2 way radio comunication from Pit to Marshall keeping an eye on everything , With Grahams Spread sheet telling us where we were all ment to be at all times we felt confident and with Jims recent form and rebuilt Serpent we should do well ........
At this point it all went wrong I was out first and we had decided to do 10 minute runs each after 9 minutes my car started to slow and we as a team were not ready being first change and coming 4 laps early we were in a panic My Motor had Expired that was a £30 Ebay LRP X11 gone
We lost about 3 or 4 Laps because of my motor alone and this was to be the way it went all day I lost 3 motors in all , Each one Expiring about the 9 minute mark which lost us time on those 3 runs
LRP 13.5 £30 Ebay BURNT OUT
Speed Passion 13.5 £ 30 Ebay BURNT OUT
Novak 10.5 £ 75 BURNT OUT
after the problems with these 3 motors I put my best motor in the one I did not want to use in case it got to HOT and it ran as cool as cool for the full 10 minutes for my last 3 runs ........... Conclusion Don't Buy Second Hand Brushless Motors !!!
At the End of the Day we were 4th overall beating the Colchester B team and the Bury Buggy Club team who was renamed 50/50 as they had 2 coastal drivers in there team also ........... It was a great day and we are looking forward to the next one ...
So with a weekend off from racing coming up then a home club meet at Coastal the following week it will give me some time to rebuild the Cyclone and sort out a New motor Ready for the BTCC and STCC coming up in the next month .
To Be Contiued .............
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Another Race Weekend .............Well here we go again another RACE Weekend is here & after a good run out last weekend at a home club meet finishing up 3rd the confidence is high
With an early start its going to be another long day Picking the GreyFox up at 6.15 thats another Sunday morning the Wife will sort of moan at me
Going to a track I know very well tomorrow Snetterton for a round of the BTCC it should be fun as my days testing there a few weeks ago will pay off as I have the perfect gear ratio for the 13.5 motor I will be using , The Race car is ready to go set up with my best motor the orion 2008 BRCA Leagle motor ........ But now with the Demon Power Products 50mm FAN as well it should be even better being that little bit cooler also ....
My Spare car has now been turned into a WET car as the weather looks like it will rain at some point tomorrow , Lucky the old Tamiya undertray fitted the Cyclone like a glove my only worry is the Novak GTB getting to Hot and cutting out inside the under / over tray , The only good thing is it has the Novak 13.5 ss pro in there as well so if the motor gets to hot the GTB will not hurt it .....................
And with the New shell on the Race car its looking good having given it a quick run in practice last weekend to check it out it seemed to handle just like the Mazda 6 shell does , It just looks different ...
My Main Goal tomorrow is to beat the GreyFox as I am ahead over this season and Just want to stay that little bit ahead until the end of the year When I may be giving up the racing  or taking time out for a while , have to see how things progress though the year .............
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Well I feel I should update my Blog , I have now got over my Bad day out at Snetterton at the BTCC meeting Funny realy as I drove my BEST EVER 5 min qualifying session ever and I still came away with very mixed emotions !!!!!!!!!
Because the meeting was being run with ROUND BY ROUND qualifying and I had 2 Bad rounds I ended up 6th in the A final ,,,, NOW 6th Is good BUT if it had been done on FTQ I would have been 2nd in A
On to the Finals and from 6th on the grid I kept my place and finished 6th in the first final ,,,,, On to the second Which was WET and I had spent a whole day during the week prepairing my spare car and transforming it into a WET car it was Bullet proof ( soI thought ) But on the way to the line for the 2nd Final I dropped my Car and a motor wire came off ( My Bad Soldering to blame ) At this point I was ready to Give Up for Good & I was very Upset with myself as I could not blame anyone else
But I did win a raffle prize and it was Purple
So in my mine I had had enough BUT I thought about it and its not all about winning its about having a good day out and I had , Seeing Leigh driving the best I have ever seen him drive winning the B Final and getting a Pot for his trouble & seeing George WIN the A final and I must say Ian looked very happy he had beaten me for the first time in a while and in a Funny sort of way I was Very Pleased for him , I realy was he deserved it ( Won't be that easy when it comes to the STCC though for the GreyFox
Got the Buggy ready for an outing next weekend so we will have to see if my old brushed motor & running old cells will be any sort of a match for the others most of them now running Brushless and Lipo !!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well another Club meet went very very well for the Cyclone Its its 10th meeting I think now & still Nothing Broken at all FANTASTIC , its taken some big crashes and nothing has broken Even Jim had a drive Sunday and crashed bad twice & nothing got broke or bent at all GREAT , To Win first you need to FINISH and this is what the Cyclone does every time ,,,,,,,,, Yes I have failed to finish a couple or 3 times but this has been down to my Electrics or Soldering NOT the car .................
In one Qualiy run I beat Ben Reyment this is something I have never done before and sent my confidence sky high although I know it was down to my motor being so much quicker and at the end of quali I was only 7 seconds behind BEN Fantastic
Having said that I needed to keep it on the Black stuff as well so my driving must be going in the right direction also ..........................
Having Breathed LIFE back into 3 older sets of SSB's with what can only be described as Illegal Tyre Additive as thats what it is, & checked over the Cyclone its ready for a Secret test session at Snetterton some time this week ready for the Weekend I don't really need a Test session BUT with the possablity of the track being run in reverse It makes sence to run it in reverse in a whole days test session just in case !!!!!!!!!!!
With my new SSB's arriving in the post today I am all set and with what can only be discribed as the Fastest 13.5 avalable the Orion 2008 I am confident going into the weekend ...................
Ill report back after the Secret Test Session
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Well where to Start lots of stuff has happened since my last Entry Ill keep it short and simple
The Test Day at Snetterton went very well and I came away from it very happy with my car Except I was still getting slight Glitching of the Electrics ,, But It was Fast and thats what counted , The STCC at Snetterton was that weekend and my Runs were all bar a couple full of Glitching I ended Up 10 in the A Final after 3 DNF's in the Finals due to interference problems But on the upside I made the A which was my goal
And I came away feeling good as I had lent my Spare car to Team Sanders as there SD was Very Sick and Paul put it to Good use finishing 4th in the last A Final and posting the Quickest lap time of that Final with it also ....... Great Job Paul ......
Then I had a Club meet at Coastal which again was not great , well it could have been if i had not had the interference again ...... Enough was Enough having changed all the electrics on my car and Sold what would turn out to be a perfectly good motor which I thought may have been causing my problems when it draged on the ground I Sent back my Electric Speed Controler as It had to be the problem and sure enough it was Nosram sent me a brand new one by return post saying my Speedo was FAULTY ( Great Service From Nosram ).........
So Today with the New ESC installed I felt I had better get out there and Try it so a short trip down to Colchester and Yes the car was Flying going great with a new motor in also FANTASTIC MOTOR the new Losi Exceleron geared at what Losi recomended as I did not want to overheat it ,,, It could have gone faster If I had gone up 4 more pinions which I would have done if it had been a proper Race Meet , That is not to say we were not racing we were and armed with my 13.5 I showed everyone bar one person the way round although he was running 10.5 & behind me there was people running 6.5 as well as other 13.5 runners
Results Sheet below what can't Speak can't lie
If I had geared the motor to what I wanted to instead of being concervative I would had got a 20 Lap time easy , but not wanting to overheat it I played it safe geared at only 4.55 If it had been the STCC I would have geared it at 3.7
Well with a Club meet at Coastal next weekend then off to the KO GP at West London the following weekend I had better get things sorted out on the spare car incase its needed as When a possibly new recrute to the Hot Bodies family drove it this afternoon it suffered from bad interference on turn 3 on a number of different laps
To Be Contiuned................
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This Is a very short Blogg Update as I have just got home from the KO in London having spent 3 days away from my family & we are off on Holiday first thing tommorow morning .........
I will update this in more detail next week ...........
Short Story is all 4 of us Coastal Drivers who entered in the 13.5 Brushless class made the A final which was Great ........................
Cam who was in the Mod class up against the Best in the Country made the C final which he was very pleased about & in my opinion he deserved to win the C final BUT he had bad luck in the first corner in all 3 of his finals , Not his fault but when cars spin in front of you thats it if you hit them well good night at this level ..........
I would like to say Cam has come of age over the last couple of meetings I have seen him race in and I am sure he will get there next season ( he has the Skill I am sure )
Team Coastal Photo Cam is missing he had left before we got Pauls and Bens POTS
We made some New friends this weekend also including BIG O as we called him he was very frienly and happy to talk Great Meeting him very nice Person .........
When he left our Pit area we told H who he had just been talking to for the last 30 mins
Full Repot to follow + all of Jimbo DNF Storys Watch this space .........
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